The first survey of Immokalee business executives shows the majority of them are optimistic, despite some big challenges faced by the town's dominant industry of agriculture.

The survey is part of a larger economic report on Immokalee produced by Florida Gulf Coast University researchers.

Here are some of the results:

68 percent expect economic conditions to get better within a year.

58 percent plan to increase hiring over the next year.

71 percent think economic conditions in their industry will improve in a year.

Christopher Westley, director of FGCU's Regional Economic Research Institute, created the report.

"Immokalee can often get some bad press," he said. "But I think (the survey) shows that the business community out there really likes being out there."

Westley decided to create the detailed economic report after Greater Naples Leadership asked whether he could do a presentation on Immokalee for its members late last year. GNL educates local retirees, many of them from other areas, about Collier County issues and connects them with nonprofit groups and volunteer opportunities.

Westley wants to make the report an annual one.

"It's not perfect," he said. "I want to try to improve on this effort."

Only 31 Immokalee business leaders participated in the survey, but the initial report still could serve as a baseline for future studies, Westley said.

"The most important thing it does is provide a metric moving forward that we can use to gauge whether it's getting better or staying the same," he said.

Business leaders were surveyed about their thoughts on a variety of topics, from the idea of incorporating the town to the effects of Collier County Commission policies on their operations.

As for cityhood, 48 percent of executives said it's very or somewhat important for Immokalee to incorporate, while 39 percent think it's not very important, or very unimportant.

When asked about the benefits of incorporation, one business leader said, "A more uniform city, a city that has formal representation and can unite its community for a better Immokalee."

Others cited cost as a reason not to make Immokalee its own city.

"This makes no sense to incorporate; there is not enough critical taxable mass to make it work," one business executive said.

Not surprisingly, the report points to a struggling community, with per capita incomes at less than half of those recorded for Collier County as a whole. With agriculture as the dominant industry, many in Immokalee work in seasonal, low-paying, less skilled jobs.

In Collier County, the average household income in 2016 was $59,783 (the fourth highest in the state). That compared with a median income of $27,767 in Immokalee.

"Agriculture is Immokalee's comparative advantage," Westley said. "This is a blessing, but it means that general worker productivity will be different there than it is in a region dominated by, say, medical device manufacturing."

Agriculture represents roughly 36 percent of all employment in Immokalee. That equated to 3,939 employees in 2016.

Although Immokalee's growers have faced many challenges, agricultural employment has increased by more than 100 percent since 2010 in the town.

Citrus production has declined over the past few years, primarily due to citrus greening disease, which slowly kills trees, with no cure in sight. Other crops have fared better, including tomatoes and peppers, contributing to employment growth.

A few of the findings in the report surprised Westley, including how many of Immokalee's agricultural employees use public transportation to get to their jobs. That number grew from 619 in 2010 to 2,116 in 2016, a "pretty big jump," he said.

"A lot of people in Immokalee walk or ride bikes to work," Westley said.

He was also a bit surprised by the town's rate of population growth, which has exceeded the county's as a whole.

From 2010 to 2016, Immokalee's population grew by 33.5 percent. That equated to 6,345 new residents and represented 20 percent of the entire growth in population for Collier County over the same seven-year span.

One of the most promising developments for Immokalee is the sprouting of the town of Ave Maria to the southwest, offering more homes, businesses and schools, Westley said.

Ave Maria and other new developments in rural Collier will make Immokalee more economically connected, which could be "a game changer over time," he said.

Danny Gonzalez, president of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce and manager of Lozano's Mexican Restaurant in Immokalee, said the economic report couldn't come at a better time.

The study comes after the recent start of a culinary accelerator at Immokalee Regional Airport — and as more businesses are looking to locate in Immokalee and new commercial developments are in the works, including a retail plaza with 4,000 square feet of space to support Lozano's growing business.

Gonzalez hopes to be one of the first to use the food-centered accelerator to bottle his salsa, for which he is seeking a patent.

The new retail plaza, which will be built next to Lozano's, will support that new retail operation and the restaurant's growing catering business, as well as making room for a few other tenants, he said.